ESFR-SMART

The ESFR-SMART project (European Sodium Fast Reactor Safety Measures Assessment and Research Tools) aims at enhancing further the safety of Generation-IV SFRs and in particular of the commercial-size European Sodium Fast Reactor (ESFR) in accordance with the ESNII roadmap and in close cooperation with the ASTRID program. The project aims at 5 specific objectives:

  1. Produce new experimental data in order to support calibration and validation of the computational tools for each defence-in-depth level.
  2. Test and qualify new instrumentations in order to support their utilization in the reactor protection system.
  3. Perform further calibration and validation of the computational tools for each defence-in-depth level in order to support safety assessments of Generation-IV SFRs, using the data produced in the project as well as selected legacy data.
  4. Select, implement and assess new safety measures for the commercial-size ESFR, using the GIF methodologies, the FP7 CP-ESFR project legacy, the calibrated and validated codes and being in accordance with the update of the European and international safety frameworks taking into account the Fukushima accident.
  5. Strengthen and link together new networks, in particular, the network of the European sodium facilities and the network of the European students working on the SFR technology. 

 

INR experts will work on the assessment of the new proposed system safety measures for ESFR reactor, especially concentrating on the measures to prevent sodium boiling. This includes measures ensuring natural cooling circulation in all cooling circuits, decay heat removal measures, timely activation of the proposed passive core shutdown systems when normal reactor shutdown systems are not operational. Our experts will be active also in system codes validation exercise based on core static neutronics and operational transients of SPX1 reactor. KASOLA facility will be used to test different transitional conditions taking place during ESFR operation, while SOLTEC facility will be used for sodium boiling related tests. We will be involved in the review of the existing worldwide technologies related to sodium cooling, thus taking part in defining design guidelines for sodium loops, procedures and standards for testing selected elements of sodium technology. Our experts will be active also improving related educational tools, thus supporting students mobility and their further education.   

 

Publications

Lavarenne J., Bubelis E., Davies U., Gianfelici S., et al. A 2-D correlation to evaluate fuel-cladding gap thermal conductance in mixed oxide fuel elements for sodium-cooled fast reactors. Proceedings of ANS Global/Top Fuel 2019 Conference, 22-27 September 2019. – Seattle, Washington, USA.

Mikityuk, K., Bubelis E., et al. HORIZON-2020 ESFR-SMART project on sodium fast reactor safety: Status after first 15 months(Conference Paper) International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, Proceedings, ICONE Volume 2019-May, 18 May 2019 Tsukuba International Congress Center Tsukuba, Ibaraki; Japan; 19 May 2019 through 24 May 2019; Code 150404.

K. Mikityuk, E. Girardi, J. Krepel, E. Bubelis, et al. Horizon-2020 ESFR-SMART project on sodium fast reactor safety: Status after first 15 months. Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-27), 19 – 24 May 2019. – Ibaraki, Japan. 2019. P. 1-8.

K. Mikityuk, F. Álvarez Velarde, L. Bankhead, E. Bubelis, et al. Horizon-2020 ESFR-SMART project on Sodium Fast Reactor Safety: status after 18 months. Poster, Proceedings of 9th European Commission Conference on EURATOM Research and Training in Safety of Reactor Systems (FISA-2019), 4-7 June, 2019. – Pitesti, Romania.

K. Mikityuk, E. Girardi, J. Krepel, E. Bubelis, et al. ESFR-SMART: new Horizon-2020 project on SFR safety. Proceedings of the International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles: Next Generation Nuclear Systems for Sustainable Development (FR17), 26 – 29 June 2017. – Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation. 2017. P. 1-10.